Painting the town ‘Red’

Fantasy pic bows in Hollywood

Though Monday’s premiere of “Red Riding Hood” at the Chinese didn’t take place under a full moon, fantasy abounded.

Director Catherine Hardwicke credited Warner Bros. with letting her run wild with the tale of werewolves and medieval romance. “I loved being able to create a whole world that’s related to people’s expectations of the fairy tale but still feels fresh,” she said at the afterparty at Henson Studios, which had been decorated to replicate a snowy village beset by werewolves. A blood moon shone in the background.

Screenwriter David Leslie Johnson mused that “Hood,” starring Amanda Seyfried, represented a unique challenge in terms of expectations. “We had the ending before we started, so my challenge was to reverse-engineer the story from that,” he said. “And it helped that ‘Twilight’ set up all kinds of expectations for people coming to see ‘Red Riding Hood.’ “